William Erskine, Lord Kinneder

William Erskine, Lord Kinneder (1768–1822), was a friend and confidant of Sir Walter Scott, and a scholar and songwriter. Early life and education Erskine was the son of the Rev. William Erskine, episcopalian minister of Muthill, Perthshire. He was baptized at Muthill on 29 August 1768. He was educated at the University of Glasgow; while there he boarded in the house of Andrew Macdonald, episcopalian clergyman and author of Vimonda, from whom, according to Lockhart, he derived a strong passion for old English literature. Career He passed advocate at the Scottish bar on 3 July 1790, and became the close friend and literary confidant of Scott. In 1792 Erskine, with Scott and other young advocates, formed a class for the study of German. According to Scott’s biographer John Gibson Lockhart, the companionship of Erskine, owing to his special accomplishments as a classical scholar and acquaintance with the “severe models of antiquity”, was highly serviceable to Scott as a student of German drama and romance. Lockhart represents him as being mercilessly severe on “the mingled absurdities and vulgarities of German detail”. It was Erskine who negotiated for Scott’s translation of Lenore in